Ohio Update: With 37 Permits, It’s Still Early Days for Marcellus & Utica Shale Drilling
An update on the state of shale gas drilling—both Marcellus and Utica—in Ohio:
An update on the state of shale gas drilling—both Marcellus and Utica—in Ohio:
Columbiana County, Ohio has signed a lease with Chesapeake Energy on 568 acres of county-owned land, receiving $1.3 million in a signing bonus.
A group of landowners with 20,000 acres in Jefferson County and Harrison County, in eastern Ohio, is nearing a lease deal to allow Marcellus Shale drilling. One of the energy companies in the final bidding is XTO Energy (now a division of Exxon Mobil).
In March of this year, newly elected Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett appointed a 30-member Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission with the aim of producing “a comprehensive, strategic proposal for the responsible and environmentally sound development of Marcellus Shale.” The panel wrapped up their work last Friday by voting on a list of recommendations, ultimately approving 96 of them. The final list will be issued in a report which goes to Gov. Corbett on July 22 and is not available at this time.
However, two prominent items from the approved list are being reported by media sources present at the meeting: a new impact fee and forced pooling.
The Pennsylvania Utility Commission (PUC) is reconsidering its decision to grant pipeline company Laser Northeast Gathering status as a public utility with the power of eminent domain (see MDN’s previous coverage of that decision here).
A new weekly half hour radio program dedicated to the Marcellus Shale will soon be on the air in West Virginia: